Mortgage due? OK to take a hike

Monday, January 28, 2013 9:59 AM

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will let some borrowers who kept up payments as their homes lost value erase their debts by giving up the properties, helping Americans escape underwater loans while adding to losses at the mortgage giants bailed out with $190 billion of taxpayer money, Bloomberg reported.

Non-delinquent borrowers with illnesses, job changes or other reasons they need to move will become eligible in March to apply for a so-called deed-in-lieu transaction that erases the shortfall between a property's value and the size of its mortgage. It follows a change in November that lets on-time borrowers sell properties for less than they owe, known as short sales, wiping out the remaining mortgage debt. Normally, the lenders could pursue people to recoup their losses.

Previous foreclosure-prevention programs were designed to help only borrowers on the verge of losing their homes, in effect penalizing those who kept paying, according to homeowner advocates such as Julia Gordon, director of housing finance and policy at the Center for American Progress in Washington.

In some cases, loan servicers have advised borrowers to stop making their mortgage payments to qualify for help, leading to evictions if their applications are denied, she said.

U.S. residential real estate lost about a third of its value after home prices peaked in 2006. Read more.